pre employment physicals

[marcbecky]

Does anyone know where I could find clarification on an RN performing pre employment physicals? I work for a DD agency in NYS, and we have a PT medical director who does our pre employment physicals. However, when he is not available they are having our RN's do them, and the MD then just "signs off" on them. ???? Not sure what the ramifications of this might be. We've never had any issues, but I was just wondering????

Thanks.

[PsychNurseWannaBe, BSN, RN]

Does anyone know where I could find clarification on an RN performing pre employment physicals? I work for a DD agency in NYS, and we have a PT medical director who does our pre employment physicals. However, when he is not available they are having our RN's do them, and the MD then just "signs off" on them. ???? Not sure what the ramifications of this might be. We've never had any issues, but I was just wondering????

Thanks.

Obviously I do not know the whole situation where you work which includes any policies regarding what you are talking about. But if you are asking if it is within the scope of nursing for an RN to do a physcial assessment, then yes a nurse can perform a physical assessment for work. The reason is because they are not there to get diagnosed with a disease, but if they are able to perform job tasks. The RN would collect patient history, vitals, perform some assessments and then forward the info to the director. The director should be reviewing the information and deciding if the person is able to work or if there are any questions then he/she should contact the prospective employee.